Sebastian Arcelus (born November 5, 1976) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Lucas Goodwin on the Netflix thriller series House of Cards (2013–2016) and Jay Whitman on the CBS political drama series Madam Secretary (2014–2019). Arcelus began his acting career in the early 2000s and spent the first decade of his career on Broadway, having played Roger in Rent, Fiyero in Wicked, Bob Gaudio in Jersey Boys, and Buddy in Elf, among other roles. He returned to Broadway with the 2022 revival of Into the Woods and its subsequent national tour.
Early life and background Arcelus was born in New York City and grew up in Port Washington, New York. He is a second generation American of Uruguayan, Italian, and Russian descent, and speaks Spanish fluently. His grandmother was Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia, and he has stated he is a distant relative ("my cousins nine times removed") of Princes William and Harry of the United Kingdom. He is a graduate of Williams College.
Career 2000–2011: Early career and Broadway
Arcelus has made a career in theater on Broadway, regionally, and internationally. He began his career in the early 2000s, and spent three years working at an international business firm while auditioning and performing in amateur theater at night. He performed in a handful of small New York theater productions as well as regional productions like that of The Who's Tommy in Newark, New Jersey in 2000 and Big River in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He joined the repertory theater company of Weathervane Theatre in Whitefield, New Hampshire, for their 2001 season; at Weathervane, he performed in productions including Floyd Collins, Cabaret, and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. Following this experience he took part in a bilingual production of West Side Story in Guatemala.
Arcelus made his Broadway debut in 2002 in Rent, first as a swing, covering the male ensemble roles as well as Mark and Roger, and then as Roger throughout the first half of 2003. He remained with Rent as a swing until Fall 2004.
Some of his first professional screen acting roles were for English-language dubs of animated TV shows. He continued to do this throughout the 2000s and voiced characters in shows including Winx Club and multiple series within the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. In 2004, Arcelus appeared in the movie musical Temptation, with Broadway stars Alice Ripley, Adam Pascal, and Zoe Saldaña, among many others.
During the spring of 2005, he starred as Jan in the original cast of the Beach Boys musical, Good Vibrations. He played Fiyero on the first national tour of Wicked from January 3 until October 3, 2006. He then reprised the role of Fiyero in the Broadway production from January 9 to December 16, 2007. Arcelus was featured on iChannel, an interactive 2006 web-series about "a self-conscious young man who finds his life taken over by a video blog."
He starred as Bob Gaudio in the Broadway production of Jersey Boys from January 10, 2008, to January 11, 2009. before starring in Happiness, a musical which ran Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater for fourteen weeks beginning on February 27, 2009. He resumed the role of Bob Gaudio in the Broadway production of Jersey Boys on July 14, 2009, and finished the role on October 10, 2010.
He originated the role of Buddy in Elf the Musical for a limited engagement run from November 10, 2010, through January 2, 2011, at Broadway's Al Hirschfeld Theater.
He assumed the role of Jack Chesney in Where's Charley? in a concert production as part of New York City Center's Encores! series from March 17–20, 2011.Where's Charley? at New York City Center "Encores!" Nycitycenter.org From May 6 through June 19, 2011, took part in the original stage production of A Time to Kill, premiering at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., based on the John Grisham novel of the same name; Arcelus originated the role of Jake Brigance. Later that summer, Arcelus filmed and helped produce the independent feature film The Last Day of August, which premiered in October 2012. In November 2011, Arcelus starred in an off-Broadway limited engagement musical production of The Blue Flower at Second Stage, along with Marc Kudisch and Teal Wicks.
2012–present: Madam Secretary and Into the Woods
In 2012, Arcelus starred in the independent film The Last Day of August. Later that year, he was cast as Lucas Goodwin in the Netflix TV series House of Cards. From 2013 to 2016, he had a recurring role in the show's first, second, and fourth seasons. In 2013, Arcelus reprised his role of Jake Brigance in the Broadway production of A Time To Kill at the Golden Theatre in New York City, which premiered on October 20, 2013.
As part of the collective The Grundleshotz, Arcelus co-wrote the musical Gettin' the Band Back Together. Following four years of improvisational rehearsals, the musical debuted regionally in 2013 at the George Street Playhouse in New Jersey before receiving a pre-Broadway workshop in 2014. The musical played on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre during Summer 2018.
In early 2014, he was cast in the Cinemax pilot Blanco. Soon after, he also joined the cast The Best of Me, based on the Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name.
In 2014, he began portraying Jay Whitman on the CBS drama Madam Secretary. After having a recurring role during the first two seasons of the show, Arcelus became part of the main cast for the final four seasons of the show; he acted in one hundred episodes before the series concluded in December 2019.
Since 2014, Arcelus has also had small roles in the films Ted 2 (2015) and Split (2016), as well as guest roles in shows including The Leftovers, FBI, and Bull. He joined the cast of the Steve McQueen miniseries Codes of Conduct, which was given a limited series order by HBO in 2015. The project was ultimately scrapped by the network the following year. In 2016, Arcelus had a six-episode arc in HBO's The Deuce.
In August 2022, it was announced that Arcelus would return to Broadway by replacing Brian d'Arcy James as the Baker in the revival of Into the Woods beginning September 6 and that he would star alongside his wife Stephanie J. Block who plays the Baker's Wife. He played his final performance on October 23, 2022. In December 2022, it was announced that Arcelus and Block would reprise their roles in the production's U.S. national tour, which launched in early 2023. During the same month, it was announced that Arcelus would also return to the Broadway production beginning January 3, 2023, and continue with the show through its final performance on January 8.
Personal life Arcelus married his Wicked co-star Stephanie J. Block in 2007. Block played Elphaba in Wicked, both on the national tour and on Broadway. Their daughter Vivienne Helena Arcelus was born on January 19, 2015.
Acting credits Film Year Title Role Notes 2012 The Last Day of August Mark Also producer 2014 The Best of Me Frank 2015 Ted 2 Dr. Ed Danzer 2016 Split Mr. Cooke
Television Year Title Role Notes 2011 Person of Interest Matthews Episode: 1x05 "Judgemet" 2013–14, 2016 House of Cards Lucas Goodwin Recurring (Season 1–2, 4); 17 episodes2014BlancoAndy SilverTV pilot 2014 It Could Be Worse Howard 2 episodes 2014 The Leftovers Doug Durst 2 episodes 2014–2019 Madam Secretary Jay Whitman Recurring (Season 1–2); Main cast (Season 3–6); 100 episodes2015Codes of ConductSimonTV pilot2018The DeuceDave Hiller6 episodes 2019 FBI Drew Harper Episode: 2x02 "The Lives of Others" 2019 Bull Eric Crawford Episode: 4x08 "Safe and Sound" 2025 FBI: Most Wanted Dr. Conrad Kagan Episode: 6x15 "Four Bodies" 2026 Dutton Ranch Giles Moore Episode: 1x3 "Act of God Business"
Voiceover and English-language dubbing Year Title Role Notes 2001–2004 Yu-Gi-Oh! Espa Roba, Rex Raptor9 episodes2001Pokémon: The Legend of Thunder VincentTV miniseries 2001–2002 Shaman KingYoh Asakura / Zeke Asakura2002Seven of SevenMutsumi 2002–2003 Ultimate Muscle Road Rage / Additional Voices 2003 Samurai Deeper Kyo Hotaru 2004 Gokusen Youichi Minami 2004PhoenixAdam2004Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of LightAdditional voicesTV movie 2004 Shrine of the Morning Mist Tadahiro Amatsu 2004 Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys Rafe TV movie 2004–2007 Winx Club (4Kids edit) Timmy/Palladium 78 episodes 2005–2010 Go, Diego, Go! Papi/Additional voices 13 episodes2005–2012Dora the ExplorerVarious voices 2006–2007 G.I. Joe: Sigma Six Tunnel Rat Succeeded Michael Sinterniklaas as Tunnel Rat 2007 Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Marcel (Martin Kanou) 2007 Dinosaur King Rex Ancient (Rex Owen) 2008 Man of the People Little G / Miscellaneous 2009Turtles Forever'87 RaphaelTV movie2014Dora and Friends: Into the City!Various voices
Theater credits YearTitleRoleVenueNotes2001Floyd CollinsHomer CollinsWeathervane Theatre:July – August 2001Regional revival2002–2004RentSwingUnderstudy: Mark, RogerNederlander Theatre:May 2002 – Dec. 2002Broadway replacementRogerNederlander Theatre:Dec 2002 – June 2003SwingUnderstudy: Mark, RogerNederlander Theatre:July 2003– Nov. 20042004CaligulaGermanicusTheatre at St. Clements:Sept. – Oct. 2004New York Musical Theatre Festival production2004–2005Good VibrationsJan / EnsembleEugene O'Neill Theatre:Nov. 2004 – Apr. 2005Original Broadway cast2005The Full MontyEthan GirardNorth Shore Music Theatre:November 2005Regional revival2006–2007WickedFiyero TigelaarNational tour:Jan. – Oct. 2006National tour replacementGershwin Theatre:Jan. – Dec. 2007Broadway replacement2008–2010Jersey BoysBob GaudioAugust Wilson Theatre:Jan. 2008 – Jan. 2009Broadway replacementAugust Wilson Theatre:Jul. 2009 – Oct. 20102009HappinessZachNewhouse Theater:Feb. – Jun. 2009Original Off-Broadway cast2010–2011ElfBuddyAl Hirschfeld Theatre:Nov. 2010 – Jan. 2011Original Broadway cast2011Where's Charley?Jack ChesneyNew York City Center:March 2011Encores! Off-Broadway revivalA Time to KillJake BriganceArena Stage:May - June 2011Pre-Broadway TryoutThe Blue FlowerFranzSecond Stage Theater:Oct. – Nov. 2011Original Off-Broadway cast2013A Time to KillJake BriganceJohn Golden Theatre:Oct. – Nov. 2013Original Broadway cast2022–2023Into the WoodsThe BakerSt. James Theatre:Sept. – Oct. 2022 Jan. 2023Broadway replacementThe U.S. National Tour:Feb. – July 2023 Ten city engagement
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